Yogesh started his business of processed food items. Being the sole proprietor of business, he used to take all the decisions. When his business grew, he continued with the old practice of controlling all by himself. It led to delay in all important decisions.

Which principle of management is violated by Yogesh in the above case.

Centralization and decentralization

The correct answer is option 3- Centralization and decentralization.

In the above case, Yogesh is violating the principle of 'Centralization and Decentralization'. This principle suggests that as a business grows, decision-making should be distributed and delegated to appropriate levels to ensure efficiency and responsiveness. By keeping all decision-making centralized, Yogesh is causing delays and inefficiencies, which is contrary to this principle.

Centralization and decentralization- Centralization refers to concentration of decision-making authority, whereas decentralization refers to evenly distribution of authority at all levels of management. According to Fayol, “There is a need to balance subordinate involvement through decentralisation with managers’ retention of final authority through centralisation.” The degree of centralisation will depend upon the circumstances in which the company is working. In general large organisations have more decentralisation than small organisations.

OTHER OPTIONS

• Unity of direction- All the units of an organisation should be moving towards the same objectives through coordinated and focussed efforts. Each group of activities having the same objective must have one head and one plan. This ensures unity of action and coordination. It prevent overlapping of activities.

• Authority and responsibility- According to Fayol, "Authority is the right to give orders and obtain obedience, and responsibility is the corollary of authority. The two types of authority are official authority, which is the authority to command, and personal authority which is the authority of the individual manager." Authority is both formal and informal. Managers require authority commensurate with their responsibility. There should be a balance between authority and responsibility. An organisation should build safeguards against the abuse of managerial power. At the same time, a manager should have necessary authority to carry out his responsibility.

• Unity of command- According to Fayol there should be one and only one boss for every individual employee. If an employee gets orders from two superiors at the same time the principle of unity of command is violated. The principle of unity of command states that each participant in a formal organisation should receive orders from and be responsible to only one superior. Fayol gave a lot of importance to this principle. He felt that if this principle is violated “authority is undermined, discipline is in jeopardy, order disturbed and stability threatened”. The principle resembles military organisation. Dual subordination should be avoided. This is to prevent confusion regarding tasks to be done.